George Thatcher
24/03/99 10:04
FAITH NATION - ORDINARY PEOPLE (1999, SISYPHUS RECORDS / Song Haus Music)
James Salter - vocals; Huey Peterson - guitars; Matt McClay - bass; Lewis 'Stretch' Sego - keyboards; Brian Owen - drums
Wow! What can I say? An AOR'sters and pompsters dream! I did not think a US based band could play this sort of music considering it's 1999 and melodic rock apparently dosen't exist in the vocab of the average American. Well Faith Nation will go someway to proving the populus wrong? This album is an amalgam of the best there is, both from yesteryear as much as is current. If you love keyboards and guitar crunch, then this one's for you. Lewis Sego is all over this album like a rash (and he plays Korg keyboards as well!!!!), while the guitarwork of Peterson has definite Ken Dubman (Prophet) influences. Vocalist James Salter you will probably recognise from The Brave's 1992 effort 'Battle Cries'. His singing is similar in parts to Rick (or is it Rik?) Florian, the great White Heart warbler. The sound overall is fantastic melodic rock which to my ears is Artica and Prophet revisited, though in a slightly less dynamic way than both those great bands.
Awesome parping keyboards introduce the album with the song 'Arms Around The World'. It has some delicate time changes before kicking into a chorus which sounded like Flyweil's 'Keep On Dreamin'. No guitar solo here guys, but a great keyboard solo a la Vince DiCola (Storming Heaven, Thread) or Alex Salz (Tour De Force). 'Make It Simple' has a Giant feel circa 'Time To Burn', which is then followed up by the superb ballad 'Don't Leave Me Now'. The production here simmers with class, oh.. and that chorus ... 4 part vocal harmonies ... 'How Can I?' shows off the bands pomp pedigree, demonstrating they can melodically rock with the best of them. 'Love Is An Ocean' is a slow builder of a ballad, with the subtle grand piano majestically weaving a soundscape. The title track 'Ordinary People' could be a Storming Heaven track, it's quite proggy in places, no doubt due to Sego's past track record plying the Yes, ELP road. A change of pace and style crops up with 'On The Water', sounding like White Heart doing a Toto track. An interesting proposition isn't it? Another album highlight is 'Hold On', an accoustic workout which moves in a similar direction to Joe Pasquale's 'Faith Of An Age'. A warm blanket of keyboards cascades over this song from woe to go. Lovely. The album closer 'Free' is also great, ending the way the album started off, full on parping keyboards and bullocking guitars!
I am very excited about this album. More so than I have about an album in a long time. Faith Nation have some eargasmic songs on offer here. It's 1999 and great melodic influences from the glory days are represented within this band who are very much in the present. So far one of the leading lights for this year. To order the CD go to Danford Entertainment's website: http://www.danfordent.com/main.htm. A special thanks go to Tom Danford at Danford Entertainment.
Review By: George Thatcher
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